How QS consultancy used QS Global Student Flows data to identify priority international student recruitment markets for a UK university

Turning global student mobility data into a clearer recruitment strategy

For universities competing for international students, deciding where to focus recruitment activity is a critical strategic question. Changing patterns of student mobility, competition between study destinations and the need to prioritise resources mean institutions need more than historical recruitment data to guide their decisions.

The University of Southampton, needed to gain a better understanding of where internationally mobile students were coming from and use that insight to identify the countries with the strongest future potential. Working with QS, the university used QS Global Student Flows data and consultancy expertise to develop a more evidence-led approach to international student recruitment. The project ultimately helped the institution identify nine priority countries and create strong internal support for concentrating activity on those markets.

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The challenge

The university wanted to look beyond where its international students had traditionally come from.

Its objective was to understand the wider population of students considering the UK and, crucially, how international student flows could develop in the future.

As professor Andrew Atherton, Vice President, International and Engagement, University of Southampton, explained, “one of the engagements that we've had over the last 12 months or so with QS has been around understanding better where our students come from, [and] where students who applied to the UK come from.”

The institution wanted to turn that understanding into a clearer strategic framework: which countries and locations should it prioritise, and where should it focus its international recruitment efforts?

That required insight not only into the overall growth of internationally mobile student populations, but also into the likely destinations of those students.

One of the engagements that we've had over the last twelve months or so with QS has been around understanding better where our students come from, where students who apply to the UK come from, and really leveraging that data and that analysis to build a clearer strategy about which countries and which locations we should be thinking about and prioritising and focusing on. So it was a really interesting but also an important project for us. And we engaged actually initially at this QS Summit last year with colleagues from QS to discuss this. We were particularly interested in some of the new data sets and some of the new analytical techniques and your global student flows model that you have developed and were developing at the time to help underpin that. And we then commissioned USQS to do that work with us. That identified a group of nine countries where there's going to be a significant proportion of international student flows and therefore growth and we very much focused it on understanding which of those flows or what proportion of those flows would go to the UK compared to other countries. That effectively was the overall framework. One of the things that was really good about the project was that it was very interactive, I think partly because QS was in the early stages of developing the global flows model and expanding it out. So in some ways, we were allowed to work with you to not quite play with the data, but engage with the data and see what it implied and what it suggested. And I think that allowed a little bit of refinement and tweaking. Also because it's a flows model, it gave us a sense about future projections about what those flows would look like. So from a university perspective we engage closely with QS, we work together to get the right approach and structure and then particularly importantly for it to land well internally within the university. We engaged a lot of stakeholders across the university and looked quite a lot of detail at the analysis and the assessment work and the recommendations out of that as we were going through the project with QS. So the outcome for us is we've identified our key priority countries, there are nine of them and maybe as importantly because we engaged a lot of colleagues across the university, the buy in for that level of focus really strong and really positive so it's landed very well within the university.

The solution

The university first discussed the challenge with QS colleagues at a QS Summit. It was particularly interested in new datasets, analytical approaches and the developing QS Global Student Flows model. They subsequently commissioned QS to undertake a deeper analysis.

The heart of the project was understanding where are significant international student flows expected to emerge, and what proportion of those students could choose the UK rather than competing study destinations?

Using the Global Student Flows approach, QS and the university identified a group of nine countries with significant potential for future international student flows and growth. Rather than considering market size in isolation, the analysis also examined how those flows could be distributed between the UK and other destination countries. This provided the university with a framework for assessing both the potential scale of future student mobility and the UK's position within it.

A collaborative approach to student mobility analysis

An important part of the engagement was the ability for the university and QS to work closely together throughout the analysis. The Global Student Flows model was being developed and expanded at the time, creating an interactive process in which the institution could engage with the data, explore what it suggested and help refine the approach.

The professor Artherton described this as one of the project's strengths: “We were allowed to work with you to… engage with the data and see what it implied and what it suggested.”

That collaboration enabled refinement of the analysis while also giving the institution visibility into the thinking behind the recommendations.

Crucially, because the analysis focused on student flows, rather than simply presenting a snapshot of existing international recruitment, it also provided insight into future projections.

For university decision-makers, that distinction matters. Historical recruitment performance can explain where students have come from; forward-looking student mobility analysis can help inform where future opportunities may emerge.

From analysis to an actionable international recruitment strategy

Producing market intelligence was only one part of the project. The university also needed the findings to work within its own organisational context. QS therefore worked closely with the institution to establish the right structure and approach to the analysis, while the university involved stakeholders from across the organisation as the project progressed. Those colleagues examined the analysis, assessment and recommendations in detail rather than simply receiving a final set of conclusions. This approach helped translate external data into an international recruitment strategy that stakeholders could understand and support.

“We engaged a lot of stakeholders across the university and looked in quite a lot of detail at the analysis and the assessment work and the recommendations.”

The result

The project delivered a clear strategic outcome: the university identified nine priority countries on which to focus, but the value of the engagement went beyond producing a list of markets. Because stakeholders from across the university had participated in the process and engaged with the evidence behind the recommendations, the institution also achieved strong internal support for its new level of focus. “We've identified our key priority countries. There are nine of them and, maybe as importantly, because we engaged a lot of colleagues across the university, the buy-in for that level of focus was really strong and really positive.”

The strategy had, in the university's words, “landed very well” internally. That combination of data-led market prioritisation and institutional alignment gave the university a clearer foundation for deciding where to concentrate its international recruitment activity.

Supporting recruitment decisions

International student recruitment teams face increasingly complex decisions about where to invest their time and resources. Looking only at current enrolment or application volumes can provide an incomplete picture when student mobility patterns are evolving.

This case demonstrates how QS Global Student Flows data, combined with consultancy and collaborative analysis, can help universities:

understand where future international student flows may originate;
assess potential growth across different countries;
consider the UK's position relative to competing study destinations;
identify a focused group of priority recruitment markets;
engage internal stakeholders with the evidence behind strategic decisions; and
build organisational buy-in around international recruitment priorities.

For this university, the result was not simply more data. It was a clearer way to determine where to focus next.

Build a more evidence-led international student recruitment strategy

Choosing priority markets requires an understanding of how global student mobility is changing and what those changes could mean for an individual institution.

By combining QS Global Student Flows insights with consultancy expertise, universities can use international student mobility data to inform market prioritisation, test strategic assumptions and build a stronger evidence base for future recruitment decisions.

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